As if getting thwacked by a speeding police van wasn't bad enough, Steve Brown of Auckland, New Zealand was charged with careless driving despite making a legal maneuver. The police investigated and initially offered to just forget the whole thing, admitting there was no blame, but he was eventually fined for poor… »11/09/07 4:30pm 11/09/07 4:30pm

The father of fifteen-year-old Scarlett Replogle — killed in the Selmer, Tennesee accident when Troy Critchley's Pro Mod got out of line during an exhibition burnout at the Cars for Kids charity event earlier this month — is suing for 2.5 million dollars in compensatory damages, on top of $7.5 mil in punitive… »6/27/07 8:15pm 6/27/07 8:15pm

The Morley family has a released a statement of facts regarding the Macedonian trial of Nicholas Morley, which seems to jibe with what we've sussed ourselves about what went down the day before the 2007 Gumball 3000 came apart at the seams. According to the original accident investigator on the scene, as well as an… »6/11/07 12:45pm 6/11/07 12:45pm

Crikey, Humbert! Golly, Gumpert! Fackin' feck, Q-bert! 51-year-old Mendoza Stewart purchased a '72 Bristol 411 a few years ago. In 2004, he parked it in a legal spot near his home in Kennington, only to find that it had been hauled off by the council and then removed from the flatbed with a mechanical claw,… »4/11/07 7:45pm 4/11/07 7:45pm

While the SAE says that odometer accuracy plus or minus 4% is within the realm of acceptability, Honda's setting a class action suit filed by owners of Accords bought between April 12, 2002 and November 7, 2006, by 5% after the vehicles' odos were found to be off as much as 3.75%, shorting the owners on their… »2/19/07 3:45pm 2/19/07 3:45pm

The bosses at Fiat are apparently none too pleased with the wily copycats over at Great Wall. The Chinese automaker has aroused the Italians' ire with it's new Peri, which Fiat claims is a virtual copy of its Panda subcompact, and is threatening legal action. Great Wall's got 90 dealerships in the European nation,… »12/12/06 4:15pm 12/12/06 4:15pm

It looks like the sad, sordid tale of the Brokeback Enzo (which two of the So-Cal Jalops attempted to find the death-site of a week or so ago after failing miserably back in March), is over. Fat Stefan scored hisself a three-year sentence on embezzlement and firearms charges, to be served concurrently with his… »11/07/06 9:45pm 11/07/06 9:45pm

This crap makes our blood boil. We've been wrongfully towed, but due to lack of funds and time, we never pursued the issue. We were once rightfully towed as well, due to confusion about street signage. And we've been towed twice due to our vehicle being stolen. And let us tell you this: regardless of circumstances,… »7/13/06 7:00pm 7/13/06 7:00pm

Fat Stefan is losing his wheels. The Brokeback Enzo, its black brother and Eriksson's Mercedes SLR are all returning to England, where banks have laid claim to the vehicles. Although Eriksson's legal team claims he owns the vehicles, a judge has ruled that the cars' rightful home is with the financial institutions… »7/10/06 2:30pm 7/10/06 2:30pm

1.7 million bucks and the damn thing won't even make it ten blocks. Such is the rarefied world of supercars. But wait, there's more. Apparently Merc pledged to make only five cars and then went ahead and made a sixth roadster variant of the ultra-limited CLK-GTR, which actually isn't even legal for road use in the… »6/14/06 8:30pm 6/14/06 8:30pm

We think this is a bigger pile of crap than hundreds of Opel Kadetts stacked into a replica of the tower of Babel. The widow of a man killed in an on-track accident as a passenger in a Porsche Carrera GT is suing the car's driver, the track (California Speedway) and Porsche over his death. Bear in mind, the driver… »5/16/06 4:57pm 5/16/06 4:57pm

Aware of our quixotic quest to justify to ourselves that the only purpose that Alabama's truly suited for is to become the Bay of Georgia, CTE tossed us this nugget from our all-things-media-humpin' brother and sister over at Gawker. Times style reporter, Warren St. John is being sued by obsessive Crimson Tide fan… »3/20/06 3:45pm 3/20/06 3:45pm

For those of you who've never visited the great Central Valley of California, you may have wondered why John Fogerty seemed so upset to be stuck in Lodi again. Trust us, we know all about that pain, having trundled around the city nigh-on sixteen years ago in the back of a beat Ford Econoline pickup trying to get to… »3/16/06 2:35pm 3/16/06 2:35pm

The Daily Breeze, San Pedro's paper of record, reports that a former Sheriff's deputy making with the enforcement in parking lots is being accused of extortion for booting cars that were illegally parked in his lot and then making the tickets look like official documents. In California, booting a car is illegal… »3/08/06 11:46pm 3/08/06 11:46pm

Uff da! Puerto Rican guy Victor Gonzalez apparently got into a number of wrecks in cars belonging to the Skip Barber Racing School. What's more, he signed a waiver holding him responsible for $5k of damage in each wreck, regardless of whether it's his fault. And he's yet to pay up. Needless to say, the Skips and… »2/27/06 6:22pm 2/27/06 6:22pm

Ruh roh. Solomon Technologies, Inc. has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission, saying that Toyota's infringed on its patents regarding the hybrid systems in both the Prius and Highlander. If the ITC rules in Solomon's favor, it could stop the import of both vehicles into the US. Needless to say,… »1/13/06 2:27pm 1/13/06 2:27pm

That's what SAFE Research, a group that specializes in litigation against automakers is contending, at least. Ford says that SAFE is drawing their conclusions documents written about a prototype Explorer that never made it to the public, while SAFE maintains that changes made to the last three model years of the 2nd… »11/21/05 5:15pm 11/21/05 5:15pm

Dear Californians: imagine being stuck at the Avis counter in a city you hate during the holidays. Say like, oh, we don't know...Birmingham, Alabama. So say you're stuck at the Avis counter in the 'Ham, and the car you reserved is nowhere in sight. No recourse, right? Go somewhere else, waste time, rent a more… »11/17/05 5:47pm 11/17/05 5:47pm

City Tow, the company that handled San Francisco's towing contract until 2003, has seettled for 5.7 million dollars in a fraud case, without admission of wrongdoing. Frankly, we find SF's towing policy rather ridiculous, as we were charged out the wazoo to have our vehicle towed about three miles and stored for an… »11/10/05 12:29pm 11/10/05 12:29pm